{"id":6020,"date":"2025-01-27T17:16:38","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T17:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2025\/01\/27\/grateful-for-the-experience-my-emi-pitch-competition-story\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T18:14:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T18:14:35","slug":"grateful-for-the-experience-my-emi-pitch-competition-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2025\/01\/27\/grateful-for-the-experience-my-emi-pitch-competition-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Grateful for the Experience: My EMI Pitch Competition Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<\/head>

My name is Roy Wang, and I am a postdoctoral fellow specializing in smart construction at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. We participated in the Cornell EMI Mark Mobius Pitch Competition<\/a> in November with our project, iOptiCrane. This project leverages AI and optimization technology to automatically generate construction crane and site layouts, aiming to enhance safety, improve efficiency, and reduce costs in building projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year ago, I could never have imagined that in 2024 I would have such an unforgettable experience at the Cornell Tech<\/a> campus in New York City, winning first place in the Emerging Markets Institute (EMI)<\/a> competition. In March 2024, when I first learned about the competition, I was thrilled by the opportunity it offered to showcase our project to a global audience. After being selected as finalists, we committed 120% effort and dedication to the competition. Our initial goal was straightforward: to promote our project to audiences worldwide and learn from other outstanding teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October, I arrived in New York for the first time, marking my debut in presenting our project on an international stage. I was quite nervous. To ensure the best presentation of our project, we rehearsed repeatedly. We also invited friends from various disciplines to provide feedback on the presentation, aiming to make our project easily understandable to every audience member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the results were announced, the venue erupted with cheers, encouragement, and congratulations. I was in disbelief upon hearing that we were the winners. Despite not being a native speaker, having a project that hasn’t yet generated revenue and is still in the research and development stage, and not having members with strong finance or economics backgrounds, I believe our dedication, effort, and belief compensated for our shortcomings in other areas. This honor is the best reward for the hard work we’ve put in over the past few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the two days at Cornell Tech, I fully experienced the friendliness, enthusiasm, patience, meticulousness, passion, and professionalism of the event organizers and staff. They truly embodied the spirit of Cornell, a world-class university. The entire conference covered a wide range of topics that were not only interesting, but also profound. Even someone like me, without a business background, gained significant insights. Additionally, I had the opportunity to meet many friends from the United States, Canada, Colombia, Vietnam, Ghana, and Japan. It was fascinating to exchange insights about our respective fields of work. Now, whenever I think of the United States, I can’t help but recall the falling leaves and sunsets on Roosevelt Island, as it holds some of my most unforgettable memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Queensboro\n
Queensboro Bridge seen from the Tata Center at Cornell Tech. Picture by Roy Wang.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Cornell EMI Mark Mobius Pitch Competition has ended, but for our project, this is just the beginning. We will move forward with the encouragement, praise, and expectations of everyone, continuing to contribute to enhancing safety and efficiency in construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Image<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

About the Author<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Roy Wang is a postdoctoral fellow at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research expertise lies in modular integrated construction and lean construction, with eight publications in top-tier construction journals. He has obtained four patents and won 17 national and international awards. As principal investigator, he has successfully secured over $2 million HKD in grants from various funding bodies. After receiving his doctorate, he established ICC (HK) Ltd., a startup that leverages AI technologies to tackle design challenges in the construction industry. The startup was subsequently selected for the incubation program of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corp.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

iOptiCrane won first place in the 2024 Cornell EMI Mark Mobius Pitch Competition. 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